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Location: Blogs Simon and Melody's Blog |
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| Posted by: supersi |
Friday, March 02, 2007 |
The other day we went on a reconnaissance trip. Neither of us knows the first thing about prams or buggies or anything like that, so we went to a well-known store in London to check out the goods and take some notes. The store is called Mamas & Papas and is located off the shopping mecca of Regent Street (nestled uncomfortably close to the likes of Burberry and Coco Chanel).
The store itself is immaculate, brightly lit with grand displays and groovy lounge music playing in the background. I sent Mel a text when I got there and she responded that she was upstairs in the café. (Note #1: any nursery products store with an espresso bar selling Peter Rabbit Organics could well be indicative of high prices). They may only charge £5 for a cappuccino, but they’ll get you later when you buy that mahogany change table.
We checked out the baby bedroom furniture collections and I must say they had some very nice, albeit expensive, furniture. (Note #2: after the espresso bar, watch out for a desk labelled “Personal Financing”). We walked by a selection of Moses baskets, and wondered if the basket that Moses floated down the Nile on cost a hundred quid. Likely not, but then these ones weren’t exactly made of bulrushes, either.
We knew we weren’t buying furniture here, and we didn’t need any wicker baskets, but we were concerned about the whole pram and buggy thing. I never knew there were so many different types and ranges of both prices and features. It was a toss up between the Pliko Pramette and the Ultima 6 in 1. The Ultima incorporates a pram, first bed, carrycot, travel system, pushchair and travel chair. (Note #3: “travel system”? What’s a “travel system” and why do I need one on a buggy??). (Note #4: Dunno – it is like GPS? Whatever... I bet Moses didn’t have one of those either). On the other hand, the Pliko unit did have fully independent suspension, traction control, Tectronic tranny and real-time AWD. Unfortunately the Personal Financing desk was closed, so we’d have to come back another day. Actually, we stood looking at the display of buggies for a while, feeling quite stupid, when finally Mel whispered, “I don’t know what the difference is!” “Should I just ask the guys at work?” “Yeah, let’s go.”
We felt rather out of place in the world of designer nursery products, but maybe this is the type of place that Posh and Becks would hang out in. Or buy. Perhaps they would lend us their team of personal shoppers for next time?? We did escape without burning a hole in our pockets, but only because we got a six month payment plan on the cappuccino :P |
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Comments (4)
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Re: Mamas & Papas |
By kathleen on
Sunday, March 04, 2007 |
| Don't let them fool you. Babies really don't need very much and they can't read the labels with brand names on them!! |
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Re: Mamas & Papas |
By hp ;-) on
Monday, March 05, 2007 |
Go with the Pliko. This is a really great stroller. It's worth every penny. We've been using ours for 3.5 years. It also functions great as a double stroller :-) (we have two kids - 3.5 years and 10 months old). Pliko has a rear foot rest for a toddler to stand for a ride. The only cons is that the basket is hard to access from the rear of the stroller but otherwise the Pliko is awesome stroller.
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Re: Mamas & Papas |
By Amy on
Thursday, June 12, 2008 |
| I work in the regent street branch of mamas and papas and although you say it's expensive the quality of our products is excellent. Our prams are stable and will last a long time and also if you do have any problems you can bring it in store and we can sort it out for you. I don't feel that any of our products are over priced as the quality is so good. But if you want a lower price then shop in a different store but just don't expect the excellent mamas and papas quality. |
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Re: Mamas & Papas |
By supersi on
Thursday, June 12, 2008 |
| Thanks for your comments Amy! After the initial confusion and being overwhelmed at all the options, you will be glad to know that we did return and purchased the M&P Pliko Pramette. Recently we also purchased a M&P brand travel stroller and travel crib. As you said they are on the higher end of the price range but have been worth every penny! We have enjoyed the cafe many times but Arwyn still has yet to sample the Peter Rabbit organic biscuits ;-) |
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